I've had my VFR for almost a year now. Picked it up mid May last year as my first motorcycle, and I've been loving riding ever since.
It's a 98' VFR800Fi with a few things done to it since purchasing it. The first thing I did was low-side it on the highway! I was going too fast for my comfort level (I was trying to hang with the guys in front of me) and the turn was sharper than anticipated. Fortunately, I was able to get her back to 100%. The front cowling, left fairing, left signal light, left bar weight, some screws, rear wheel, levers, and some body scars had to be repaired. Thankfully, I was wearing full protection (though the fall did eat through the pads and gave me a pretty battle scar on my elbow), and the bike wasn't totaled. I actually drove it back home with a dented flat rear wheel! Just had to be extremely careful on the turns.
It was difficult trying to find some fairings, so I chose the cheap route and got what I thought was high quality chinese fairings. The mounting holes were off, I couldn't screw in some things because the screw locations were too small for them to fit, and the color was off. So, those went back and I purchased the OEM fairings. Much better, although it came out to be twice as expensive. But, all is well cosmetically. I have some knicks on the tank from the rocks and a minor scuff on the right side, but that's okay.
Shortly after fixing her up, I was having fuel issues. After doing a tune-up (oil, plugs, coolant, etc.), it was still rough, so I took out the fuel pump and found that the rubber hose in there was cracked. It was leaking the fuel that was supposed to go in the motor back in the tank. Just to be on the safe side, I got another fuel pump (a Kemso pump off of ebay) along with some new tubing, and all is well.
But anyway, I threw on a Delkevic shorty, K&N air filter, and did the R/R and wiring harness before it went bad. I have a pipercross filter that I want to install, but I need to dyno it to see if the extra air will require me to use a PC. When I dynoed it with the slip-on and K&N, the A/F ratio was actually close to perfect without the PC, so hopefully I won't have to get it tuned for the pipercross. Tuning ain't cheap! When I did dyno it, the bike was making 106.5hp to the wheels, which is pretty good methinks.
I picked up the bike from a nice guy in Atlanta, Georgia. The bike had around 2200 miles, and I was able to nab it for $3,800. It has around 3,700 miles now. About 300 miles ago, I put on a set of Michelin Pilot Road 4s. Very nice tires that turn in very well. Now, I'm waiting for RVFR to get some headers made for our bikes!
I was drawn to the VFR because of the lovely sounds a V4 with a big-bang firing order can make. I never get tired of it. The chain driven cams sound like some type of twin-screw supercharger, and the lack of vtec is really nice. Never been a vtec fan. For me, the 5th gen VFR was the last pure vfr that was made, especially the 98-99 with the catless headers. I had a rough start, but we live and learn, and I can't see myself owning another bike for a long time. Well, maybe a Honda CBX1000 with a 6-1 exhaust. Such an awesome sounding machine.
Recently, I've come to find out how lucky I am to have this bike. While it isn't a super sport nor a full blown touring, nor is it the fastest (but fast enough for me), that's what makes it so special. It's the jack of all trades, master of none motorcycle. It goes, it handles well, sounds awesome, looks really nice, and can still purchase parts for it. I think this is one of the most undervalued bikes out there, but you won't see me complaining! This bike is definitely a keeper for life.
Let's see, if I average around 2,000 miles a year, and these bikes can still run well with over 100k miles, then it would take me around 48 years to get there, haha. I'd be in my 70s by then, though I'm sure my riding time will increase as the years go on. Well, I hope they do.
Well, that's about it folks. Just wanted to introduce myself and share my story. Ride safe!
edit: oh, and the four bottom pics are before the crash, not that it looks any different now. Well, the brake lever that's bent has been replaced.
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